Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Swindon landlord fined £16k

A Swindon landlord, Javaid Lone has been fined £16,650 after pleading guilty to 13 breaches of housing regulations.

Mr Lone rented 31 and 33 County Road as a guest house for up to sixteen tenants - split into multiple bed-sitting rooms with shared kitchens and shared bathrooms.

Following a visit to the guest house by officers from Swindon Borough Council, the conditions at the property were found to be unsafe and unhygienic. Officers pinpointed insufficient fire exits, covered smoke alarms, dangerous electrical wiring and filthy living conditions in their case against Mr Lone.

Although Mr Lone did make some attempts to meet the councils requests to improve the property they failed to meet expectations.

The final straw for the council followed the non-payment of a £9,598 electricity bill which ended with the supply getting cut off.

The council's prosecution accused Lone of taking advantage of naive tenant's, many of whom were non-English speaking, and therefore vulnerable.

Kirsty Real, acting for the council describe to the court how -

“He tried to cram in as many residents as possible and the effects of that were all around the property. There was a significant fire and safety risk in this property and the tenants could have suffered serious harm in the event of a fire.”